When the Bough Breaks
by Susan M. M
Summary: The Flash rescues an unusual child. WARNING: deathfic.
1. I Think You'd Better Go Out For Diapers

**Warning: deathfic**. Break out the Kleenix box before reading.

**Author's Note**: Based on characters and situations from DC Comics, Pet Fly Productions, Warner Bros., and a whole batch of other people, none of whom are me. This was written for the recycling 'zine A Small of Friends from Neon RainBow Press -- the goal of Small Circle was to take the plot from one TV show, and retell it with the characters and situations from another show. This story started life as a _Birds of Prey_ episode, but is retold here as a _Flash_ story. Oh, and I borrowed one character from _KF: TLC_, who lived and worked in Central City before moving to Sloanville.

**When the Bough Breaks**

_The Flash_

Based on the _Birds of Prey_ episode "Three Birds and a Baby"

Rewritten by Susan M. M. for A Small Circle of Friends

**_Rock a bye baby, in the treetop,_**

**_When the wind blows, the cradle will rock._**

**_When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall._**

**_Down will come baby, cradle and all._**

**November 5, 1990, Central City**

Barry Allen, aka the Flash, ran through the streets of Central City at 70 mph. No one saw him in the dark except one old wino. The wino watched the scarlet-clad speedster run past, then looked at the half-finished bottle with respect.

"Darn, that stuff's stronger than I thought." Enthusiastically, he took another swig.

Barry continued his patrol. He was just about to quit for the night and go home for a pizza or two when he heard screams in the distance. He changed direction, heading toward them. As he got closer, he could hear the sounds of a scuffle and followed the noise until he saw a woman on a fire escape over an alley. Two men were tussling with her.

"Call 911," Barry yelled, hoping one of the neighbors would obey. He was about to hurry up the fire escape when something white fell. Looking up, he was shocked to see a baby falling. Instinctively, he caught it.

Two more men rushed out of the shadows to attack him. Cradling the baby in one arm, he kicked one, knocking him against a dumpster. He slammed his left arm out straight, flattening the second man. Barry set the baby down on the lowest platform of the fire escape. He grabbed the first man and threw him into the dumpster. He headed toward the second man, who took one look at him, scrambled to his feet, and ran away. Barry picked the baby up again and went up the fire escape, only slightly faster than a normal human, out of consideration for the infant nestled against his chest.

He heard footsteps running as he went up, and guessed that the other assailants were escaping out the apartment door. He didn't worry. He knew it would be easy to catch up with them.

"Ma'am, I've got your baby." Barry looked down at the woman lying on the fire escape platform. A knife protruded from her chest. He swore quietly. "Sorry, kid, guess I shouldn't say that in front of you."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Dr. Tina McGee pulled on her bathrobe and hurried to her condo door. "This had better be good. It's two o'clock in the morning." She opened her door, and saw the Flash standing there. "Couldn't this wait until morning?"

"Nope." Barry held out the baby to her.

"What? What's this? Where did it come from?" The brunette scientist stepped back so Barry and the baby could come inside.

"It's a baby. You've heard of 'em, right? Little critters, cry a lot? And you being a scientist and all, I figured you already know where they come from," Barry said.

"I know about the birds and the bees," Tina retorted. "But where did this one come from? It's not yours, is it?"

"Of course not! I found it."

"So you mistook my place for the lost and found department?"

"I didn't know what else to do. The mother was murdered. I wasn't in time to stop them." Barry pushed the baby at her. "I didn't know what else to do with it."

Reluctantly, awkwardly, Tina took the squirming bundle. "You could have taken to Social Services, or a hospital, or something."

Barry shook his head. "Someone killed its mother. Somebody sent four men after her. That wasn't a robbery gone bad, that was a deliberate murder. Until we know who she was, and why she was killed, the baby might be in danger, too."

"Barry, it's hardly a witness at its age."

"What if whoever killed the mother was after the baby? I couldn't take the chance."

The baby began to cry. Tina sniffed. "I think you'd better go out for some diapers."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry stood in the aisle and stared in dismay. Pampers. Huggies. Luvs. Always Save. Newborn. 8-14 pounds. 16-28 pounds. 22-37 pounds. Pull-ups. Just for boys. Just for girls. He hadn't even checked to see if the baby was a boy or a girl. In desperation, he grabbed four different sorts and threw them in the cart.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"There, there, please don't cry," Tina begged the wailing infant. She began to sing softly, hoping to calm the child. "Rock a bye baby, in the treetop, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all. Ugh," she muttered to herself, "what a morbid thing to sing to a child." She racked her brain to think of a more cheerful lullaby.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The cashier rolled her eyes and tsked at the depth of male ineptitude. "Four packages of diapers, different sizes, a six-pack of plastic bottles, one can of formula, two frozen pizzas, and a candy bar. Either you're opening a daycare, or you got stuck babysitting and you forgot to ask how old the kid is," she guessed.

"My cousin's kid," Barry lied.

"Save the receipts," the cashier advised. "As long as you don't open 'em, you can bring back the ones that are the wrong size."

Barry nodded.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"I'm back," Barry announced, as he let himself into Tina's condo.

"Shhh. Guy's sleeping," Tina whispered.

"Guy?" He carried the grocery bags to the kitchen.

Tina followed him. "Well, I couldn't keep calling him 'it.' It's November fifth, so I named him Guy."

"I hate the name Guy." Barry glanced at the microwave directions on the side of the pizza box.

"It's a perfectly good name," Tina replied. She sorted through the packages of diapers. "This one, I think."

"You named him after a terrorist?"

One delicate brown eyebrow rose. "A terrorist?"

"Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament, didn't he? And Guy of Gisbourne was the bad guy," Barry winced at the unintentional pun, "in the Robin Hood stories. And, and, Guy Gardner," he added

"Who's he?"

"Went to junior high with him. He was a real jerk." Barry opened the microwave, put the pizza inside, and set the controls.

Tina glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was. Her jaw dropped. She stared. Very lightly, she touched Barry's arm to get his attention.

"What?" Barry turned around. "Oh, my –"

He stared wide-eyed at the toddler before him. Naked except for a blanket, the child stood shivering in the doorway. The blanket was the one Guy had been wrapped in, and he had Guy's blond curls and blue eyes. But he appeared to be about three years old.

"I'm cold, Auntie Tina. And hungry," the child whimpered.

"Auntie Tina?" Barry whispered.

"It's how I was referring to myself when I rocked him to sleep," she whispered back. In a normal voice, she said matter of factly, "Of course you are, darling. You've outgrown your clothes. Sit down and Auntie Tina will get you a glass of milk and a slice of pizza. Then you can have a nice warm bath whilst Uncle Barry runs out to get you some new clothes.

Barry nodded, taking the hint.


	2. Tamashiro Labs

Barry ran through the streets to the nearest Salvation Army thrift store. He raced through the children's clothing section, grabbing shirts and pants suitable for a three year old. After a nanosecond's hesitation, he took some clothes in larger sizes, too. He stopped at the book corner, skimmed the shelves at lightning speed, and took a Mother Goose book, Robert Louis Stevenson's _A Child's Garden of Verse_, two or three others grabbed at random, as well as a _Sesame Street_ videotape. He pulled two twenties from his wallet and laid them on the counter beside the cash register.

He was back at Tina's condo before Guy was out of the tub.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Guy sat on the couch, engrossed in his videotape. Tina and Barry stood at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, close enough to watch him, far away enough not to be overheard.

Barry wondered "Maybe he's an alien? Maybe an android?"

"I don't think so." Tina was too much of a scientist to jump at wild theories, especially those involving little green men.

"How did he learn to talk and feed himself?" Barry asked.

"We'll need to take him to my lab so I can do some proper tests." She turned to the boy. "Guy, would you like to go for a ride in the car?"

"We don't have a car seat," Barry protested.

"You and I survived without car seats," Tina reminded him. "It's a short drive. He'll cope. Did you want to assist me with my tests, or did you want to go to the coroner's office and see if you can find any information about his mother?"

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry opened the door of the coroner's office. "Hello?"

"Who's there?" a voice called out.

Barry's sighed. He'd hoped to find the place empty.

"Just me, Nicky." Barry walked in.

Dr. Nicky Elder smiled a greeting. "What are you doing here at this hour? The sun's not even up yet."

"Had an experiment I had to check on," Barry fibbed. "Am I interrupting?"

Nicky shook his head. "I doubt Gladys will mind."

"Gladys?"

"Barry Allen, meet Gladys Rees." The medical examiner nodded at the body on the table. "Probably a victim of a burglary gone wrong. She was knifed. Or possibly an intended rape, and the sonuvabitch was scared off before he could finish the job. She has a lot of bruises, looks like she tried to fight her attacker off."

Barry recognized her. It was Guy's mother.

"Hmm, what's this?" Nicky felt her shoulder. "Something here." He took a scalpel and dug into her flesh. "What on earth is this?"

Barry stepped closer to the table. "Looks like a biochip."

"Like some vets are putting in dogs now?"

"Want me to take it to the lab and check it out?" Barry offered.

"Sure, saves me time and trouble to just hand it to you." Nicky cleaned the blood off the small electronic chip and placed it in an evidence bag.

Barry took the chip down to his lab to examine it. He'd probably be able to find out more if he took it to STAR Labs – they had a much larger budget for sophisticated equipment than the police department did. However, the chain of evidence had to be preserved. He didn't want the people who'd killed Guy's mother and tried to abduct him to be released on a technicality. Besides, he needed to leave a note for Julio that he wouldn't be in to work today. He had a feeling babysitting Guy would keep him much too busy.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

A few hours later, Barry returned to STAR Labs. "His mother had a biochip embedded in her shoulder. It seems to be a passkey for Tamashiro Labs. Heavily encrypted, cutting edge technology."

"Really? I found a biochip in him, too, but I couldn't examine it without subjecting him to surgery." She handed Barry an X-ray and some computer printouts.

Barry nodded. "Yep, this is just like the one in Gladys Rees."

"Gladys Rees?" Tina repeated.

"Guy's mother. What else did you find out about him?"

"Well, his readings are human," Tina announced. "Based on height, weight, bone density, about three or four. If he keeps aging at his rate, he'll d-i-e of old age in days, a week tops."

Barry was shocked. "Wecan't let that happen. Maybe he'll stabilize when he's done growing?"

"Maybe, too little data to theorize. Look,_" _Tina pointed to the computer screen. It showed what looked like a colored X-ray. Little red lines ran throughout the picture. "Those lines are neural mesh, surgically grafted onto his brain and major nerves."

"Can you remove the neural mesh?" Barry asked.

Tina shook her head. "It would kill him. Even if we could, I'm not sure we should. Think of Guy as a computer: the mesh is his software."

"It tells him what to do?"

Tina corrected him. "It tells him how to do things, walk, talk, feed himself, things that normally would be learned over a period of months."

"So he's like a robot, all pre-programmed?" Barry asked.

Tina replied, "No, not at all. He gets his skills from the mesh, but what he does with them seems to be entirely up to him. He's got his own personality. The passkey biochip, by the way, is embedded in the mesh."

"Just like Gladys Rees. Meaning they've both been in Tamashiro Labs. She'd need a passkey because she's an employee, but why the baby?"He looked at the kid happily watching a _Sesame Street_ videotape. "Why go to all that trouble if he's just going to die in a few days? He's just a kid, a kid who doesn't know what's happening to him, or why, doesn't understand that he's different."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Eileen Tamashiro, a handsome Eurasian woman in her forties, sat behind her desk, frowning. She didn't like the report her chief geneticist was stammering out.

"My assistant broke into the lab last night, stole the baby," Dr. Malfin admitted. "My men went after her. She's dead, but the baby … has fallen into third party hands."

Tamashiro shook her head. A lock of her long brown hair had escaped her bun. She twisted it around her finger. "I may look like the ultimate career woman, but I'm unfilled. My biological clock is ticking like a bomb. I had you custom-make a baby for me and what did you do? You lost it."

"We'll get it back, Ms. Tamashiro," Malfin promised.

"You won't do anything. You've proven the geek squad isn't up to it," she informed him scornfully. "I'm outsourcing, hiring professionals. We're on a tight schedule; I don't have time for you to delay me by messing up again. Once we get my baby back, then I'll decide," she took an ivory letter opener and threw it at him, pinning his sleeve to the wall, "whether or not to kill you."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Guy snuggled comfortably on Barry's lap.

Barry turned the page. " 'I'm going to have a birthday party, and I want you to come', Zelda Zebra said to Michael Monkey. 'We're going to have cake and ice cream and presents.' 'I love cake,' said Michael Monkey."

"Uncle Barry?" Guy interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"I never had a birthday. Am I different from other kids?" Guy asked.

"Yes, you're different. And so am I," Barry told him.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Ms. Tamashiro, your 1:00 appointment is here," the secretary announced.

"Send them in," she ordered. She smiled as the four mercenaries entered the room. The business suits they wore couldn't hide their muscular builds. "Mr. Davis, how nice to see you and your men again. I have a little job for you."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Tina was on the phone with Dr. Malfin.

"We've been frantically searching for Guy, as you call him, ever since he was abducted from our lab. He has a rare aging disease; he's a very special child," Dr. Malfin said.

"So I've seen." Tina glanced over at the boy in Barry's lap.

"He was scheduled to have undergone an experimental procedure to slow the aging process when our lab was broken into," Dr. Malfin explained. "Industrial espionage."

"Why were people were trying to abduct him?"

"Well, the boy is very unusual. He's an orphan, and his unique condition makes him very … interesting to less principled scientists. My assistant attempted to save the child," Malfin said truthfully. He added mendaciously, "I'm sorry to hear what happened to her."

"So there's a chance you could cure him?" Tina asked.

"As I said, the treatment is experimental, but without it he'll die. Time is of the essence," Malfin stressed. "I need you to bring him to me right away."

As soon as she hung up the phone, she walked over to Guy and Barry.

"Excuse me, Guy, Aunt Tina needs to talk to Uncle Barry a moment." She pulled Barry away from Guy and filled him in on her conversation with Tamashiro Labs.

"Wait, we don't know enough to risk bringing him to them," Barry protested.

"He's dying. We don't have a choice," she told him. "We can't afford to lose even an hour; we have to take a chance."

"It's too risky to go in there blind. What if they're the ones who did this to him?"

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry complained about Tina's driving all the way to Tamashiro Labs.

"You've never been a back seat driver before. Are you still upset I wouldn't let you run over?" She kept her voice down. Guy was napping in the back seat.

They arrived at the lab and Tina found a parking space. She peeked into the back seat to check on Guy. He had aged again, and now looked like a grade school child.

"Where are we?" Guy asked.

Tina and Barry stared at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"He morphed again," Barry stated the obvious. "One second he's napping, the next he has the growth spurt from Hell."

"Don't swear in front of the child," Tina admonished automatically, still stunned by what she saw. "About ten or eleven?" she guessed.

Guy examined the broken straps of the car seat Barry had insisted upon getting. He climbed out to sit on the back seat beside the now useless car seat.

"Good thing we brought a change of clothes," Barry muttered.

"He aged six or seven years and slept through the whole thing." She snapped her fingers. "That's it. Both times he aged after a nap. Sleep is the catalyst. You stay here with Guy, I'll go talk to Malfin." Tina picked up her cell phone and called his. Barry pushed the answer button, but said nothing. "If there's a problem, I'll let you know." She slipped the phone into her jacket pocket.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"I was so relieved when you called. I'm Dr Lewis Malfin," the middle-aged man in the white lab coat introduced himself.

"Dr. Tina McGee, STAR Labs." She saw the reflection of a gun behind his back in the glass door of a cabinet. "You've got a gun!"

Three armed henchmen entered the room.

"I'm not taking any chances on getting him back," Malfin announced.

Tina offered, "I'll make you a deal. You tell me what you want him for, and I'll tell you where he is."

Malfin shook his head. "No, I have reputation to restore."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry was listening in the car. He turned to Guy. "You stay right here. Don't move."

Guy nodded and continued changing his clothes in the back seat.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Flash rushed into the building. He grabbed Tina and pulled her to safety behind a desk. He had one henchman down on the floor, only half-conscious, before the other two realized he was there. One henchman he punched, knocking him out with one blow. The other turned and ran.

Barry could have caught him, but he turned to face Malfin instead.

Malfin exclaimed, "The Flash!" Frowning, he asked, "Are you faster than a speeding bullet?" He fired; Barry darted out of the way.

Guy broke through the door. He kicked the gun out of Malfin's hand.

"I told you to stay in the car!" Barry snapped.

Guy kicked Malfin to the floor.

Barry picked him up. "I've got a lot of questions for you."

Before Malfin could say anything, Guy did a spinning kick, knocking Malfin into an electric panel. Sparks flew. Guy picked up Malfin's gun, shot out the security camera, then aimed gun at Malfin's smoking body.

Tina announced decisively, "We had better leave."

Barry grabbed Tina in one arm, Guy in the other, and ran out.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Tamashiro examined the lab damage, including Malfin's body. "Baby came home to visit Mama. Quick, precise, almost mathematically elegant." She smiled winningly at the mercenary. "You can see why I'm so anxious to find him."

Davis looked around at the broken furniture and glass, the shot-out security camera, the blood on the floor. He asked, "A baby did all this?"

"My boy's growing up. Where has the time gone?" She gave a pleased grin … a distressingly vulpine grin. "He was designed to go through the entire human life cycle in only three days. The perfect child for the busy career woman. Low maintenance, no sleep deprivation from those dreadful two a.m. feedings, and they don't live long enough to borrow the car."

Davis inquired, "If they grow so fast, why not just hatch another one?"

"He's the prototype," Tamashiro explained, as if to an idiot. "The living blueprint for my family of baby assassins," she added gleefully. "Completely loyal and willing to do Mama's bidding."

"Loyal?" He raised an eyebrow. "You mean you told him to do this?"

"No, this he did on his own," she admitted reluctantly. She frowned. "Free will. I told Malfin to bioengineer it out of the boy. Obviously one more thing he screwed up. But the child is still controllable. That's why we're here." She reached down, turned over Malfin's body, and removed a black plastic box from his pocket. "The trigger, it's like a remote control. It turns on his programming to destroy. Now all we have to do is track down my boy."

Not for the first time, Davis thought that his employer was crazy.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Guy and Barry had the playground to themselves. All the other children were at school. Barry had changed out of his crimson suit and back into blue jeans, a shirt, and jacket.

Barry pushed Guy's swing. "Guy, we need to talk about what happened at the lab."

"I saved you and Aunt Tina," the boy replied.

"Yes, you did," Barry agreed. He kept his voice calm, not wanting to frighten the boy. "How did you know how to fight like that?"

"I just knew." He swung for a minute or two without speaking. "Why am I …like I am?"

"You're special, just like my speed makes me special." Barry paused. "You killed a man. Even though it was an accident…you can not do that, not again."

"Why not?" Guy asked. "He was bad."

"Yeah." Barry couldn't disagree with that. "You and I, we're different. We have to remember that different – special – does not mean better than other people. We have to try not to hurt people."

"Even bad people?" Guy asked.

Barry nodded. "Even bad people. We're strong. We have to be responsible with our power," he remembered something his father had told him years ago, "because that's what being strong means."

In a doubtful tone, Guy asked, "Are you sure?"

Barry told him, "Otherwise, we'll be just like the bad guys."

The silence was broken by the sound of children. School must have let out. Other kids began coming into the playground.

"Okay." Guy looked at the other children, who were rapidly approaching the swings and slide. "Am I ever gonna have a birthday like other kids?"

Barry smiled at him. "Of course you are, with cake and candles and everything."

"Cool," Guy declared.

Two kids ran up to the swings. The girl announced. "Hi, I'm Marcy. He's Ted. Who are you?"

"Guy."

"Bet I can swing higher than you can," Ted offered.

"Bet you can't," Guy retorted.

Barry stepped back to give the three kids room to swing high. He watched Guy play with other kids for the first time in his short life. He realized with a shock that it was still Guy Fawkes Day, and it had only been thirteen hours since he'd caught a baby falling from a fire escape.


	3. Am I Meant To Kill?

It was barely sundown, but Guy was already asleep on a cot set up in the corner of Tina's lab. His busy day had exhausted him completely. Tina pulled the blanket over him and kissed his cheek.

Barry brought in a handful of clothes. "For Guy when he wakes up. Mom always said kids grew up fast, but…" He shook his head. His life had been crazy since he'd become the Flash, but the past twenty-four hours had been right off the weirdometer.

"I don't know what to do," Tina complained.

"Welcome to motherhood; they tell me that's par for the course." Barry yawned. "Have you got another cot around here somewhere? I've been up nearly thirty-six hours. I'm beat."

Tina nodded. "Supply closet, next floor up. There's always someone who has an experiment they can't leave."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry yawned himself awake three hours later. He rose reluctantly from the cot, looking for food. Half a roasted ox, by preference. He found the fruit bowl, ate three apples and two bananas, then wandered over by Tina. He peered over her shoulder at the computer. "Haven't found anything yet, have you?"

"Actually, yes. I've been analyzing the neural mesh. It looks like it has two modes. Passive mode has been giving him skills as he grows, how to talk, how to feed himself…combat experience. The active node –"

"Controls the aging?" Barry guessed.

Tina shook her head. "The active mode taps into the part of the brain that controls violent behavior. It's obvious he's been designed as some sort of assassin or warrior."

"Warrior, yes, assassin, no."

Tina reminded him, "Barry, he killed a man."

"He killed him to protect you. Maybe some idiot at the Pentagon with more brass than brains wanted to create a super soldier."

Tina said, "You've seen what he can do. Now the only question is –"

Guy interrupted, "Am I meant to kill?"

Tina and Barry turned their heads. A teenaged Guy stood behind them, dressed in his new clothes. He had moved too silently for them to hear him approach.

Guy demanded, "What am I? What the Hell's wrong with me?"

Tina corrected him sharply, "Watch your language, young man."

Barry nodded in agreement. "You're too young to cuss."

"What, I'm old enough to fight and kill but not swear?" Guy retorted.

Barry tried to calm him down. "We're gonna find out what's wrong, Guy. Everything's gonna be all right."

"You don't know that. You don't have a damned clue what's wrong with me. I'm just a freak," Guy complained.

"No, you're not." Barry was more offended by 'freak' than if Guy had used the other F word.

Tina asked, "Have you eaten yet? If you've just had another growth spurt, you'll need to replenish your caloric intake." The scientist replaced the mother figure. "Protein would probably be best."

Guy sneered, "This isn't something cookies and milk can solve, 'Auntie' Tina."

"Calm down, Guy." Barry reached out a hand to comfort him.

Guy slapped away the hand. "You calm down. You're not the one this is happening to. Why did you save me if you can't do anything to help me? I hate you!" He stormed off.

Tina looked up at Barry. "He didn't mean that. He just needs time. Teenagers– "

"He doesn't have any time. None of us do."

Tina looks concerned as Barry walked off.

A minute later, Barry was back. "Guy's gone."

"Gone?"

"I'm gonna go find him." He dashed out.

"Wait," she said too late. Quietly, to herself, she finished the sentence. "We'll cover more territory if we split up."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Flash ran through the town. Through the suburbs, through downtown, through the barrio and the ghetto, one street after another.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Tina sighed. This was the third teen dance club she been to, but she'd finally found him. "Guy, we need to talk."

"Go away, Aunt Tina." He turned his back on her.

A young punk with a pierced ear came up behind them. "Hey, if you don't want her, I don't mind older women."

Two friends came up behind him. "Yeah, older women are so good at … sharing their experience," one said.

"I like sharing," the other added

"Get lost," Guy ordered.

"Make us," the punk retorted_._

Tina frowned. Her eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. And she realized she had no way to stop the destruction that was about to ensue.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Davis, now in black denim pants, a black turtleneck shirt, a Kevlar vest, and a black knitted ski cap, reported to Tamashiro. "My men just intercepted a report on the police scanner. Disturbance in a teen dance club." He pulled a miniature tape recorder out of his pocket and played it.

"All units in the vicinity of Sheridan and 12th, possible riot at Club Slippery. You are looking for a male Caucasian, mid-teens, violent and dangerous. All available units, please respond."

Tamashiro smiled. "That's my boy."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

By the time Barry arrived at the dance club, it was in flames. People were still emptying out of the building. Police cars surrounded the place. He could hear fire truck sirens in the distance.

Tina drew him aside before anyone could notice the Flash. She told him what had happened.

"Property damage, yes, and probably some broken bones, but no one killed. He held back, Barry. He made a conscious decision not to do as much harm as his programming probably told him to." She coughed; the smoke was making it difficult to breathe. "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't stay."

"Which way did he go?"

"Guy ran off down Maple Street. I couldn't stop him," Tina repeated.

Barry had been on Maple Street that afternoon. "I think I know where he's heading."

Davis and Tamashiro arrived just as the Flash ran off. Tamashiro looked at the chaos. "Mama's good boy. Such a flair for destruction. Now it's time for you to bring him back to me." She pulled the trigger device out of her purse and displayed it to Davis.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Guy lay on the grass at the park where he'd played a mere seven hours earlier. His eyes were closed. He had changed again, aging from fifteen to twenty. Barry knelt beside him and laid his hand on his shoulder.

"Slow down, Guy. I can't keep up."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Outside what was left of Club Slippery, Tamashiro pressed a button on the trigger device. The screen now read 'test subject armed.' She turned to Davis. "Now take your men and find my baby boy. It shouldn't be too difficult. Just follow the mayhem."

Davis nodded to his men. "Move out," he ordered. The four Kevlar clad men turned to go.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Barry rubbed the sleeping teenager's shoulder. He was afraid anything more would wake him up, so he kept his touch light and gentle.

Just then, Eileen Tamashiro pushed the control button. Guy's eyes flew open.

"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay," Barry lied soothingly.

Guy jumped to his feet and punched Barry without warning. Not expecting the blow, the Flash was knocked down. Barry got up, and Guy grabbed Barry's shoulder with his right hand. His left hand Guy pulled back, preparing to punch him again.

"Guy, why are you doing this?" Barry asked.

"It all fell into place. I know why I was born. Why I was made," Guy corrected himself.

Barry ducked the punch. "Why?"

"To kill." Guy kicked at the Flash, his foot making a solid connection against Barry's thigh. "And it feels good."

Barry dodged the next three blows. "Don't do this, Guy. It isn't you."

"Oh, yes, it is." Guy aimed another punch at Barry's jaw.

Barry caught the boy's hand, then stepped back and released it. Taking a deep breath, he realized what he would have to do, and he wasn't looking forward to it. He let the next few punches land, weaving slightly to lessen the impact, but not running away, not avoiding them completely, and not hitting back.

"What are you doing?" Guy cried out after a minute. "Why don't you fight back?"

"Because the battle you should be fighting isn't between the two of us. It's inside you."

Hitting, dodging, neither spoke for a minute. Barry was tempted – so tempted – to run away. It would hurt far less, but Guy needed to know that he could defeat the ultimate enemy … himself.

"You can fight your programming. You don't have to be what people expect. I know it's hard, but you can choose." Guy got in a good strong kick. Barry fell. "You can choose to hurt people, or you can choose to love people." Moving far more slowly than he was accustomed to, he got to his feet.

Guy pulled back his fist. "Why should I listen to you?"

"You shouldn't."

Guy halted, surprised by the answer.

"The only person you should listen to is yourself. It's not genetic engineering or programming that defines who you are, Guy. It's you, and the choices you make."

Guy's arm remained poised in mid-air.

"I face my demons every day. I'm different, too. With my speed, I could go anywhere, steal anything, hurt anybody. But I choose to use my gift to help people."

Guy stared up at him, openly confused.

"There are a lot of things I don't know, but one thing I know is true. You can be anything you want to be. Anything." Barry reached out and took the hand that was ready to punch him. He curled his fingers gently around the fist, then pulled the boy into a hug. "It's okay."

Guy's programming conflicted with his emotions, overwhelming him. "Uncle Barry?" Then nurture won out over nature, and he hugged back.

"It's okay." Barry heard something. He looked up to see four men dressed like burglars or special forces coming across the park. "I might have been a tad premature."

"Kill the Flash. Take the kid alive," Davis ordered.

"I ain't getting paid enough to fight the Flash." One man turned and walked away.

Barry ordered, "Run. I'll take care of this."

"No, I'm not going to leave you."

The remaining three mercenaries rushed the pair. Barry fought two simultaneously. His muscles were feeling the pounding he'd allowed Guy to give him, and he couldn't help wondering if there hadn't been another way to convince the boy he was more than just his programming.

Guy judo-tossed the third man to the ground, then whirled and kicked one of the ones attacking Barry. As though they had choreographed it, Barry and Guy fell into a coordinated attack against the trio – trading opponents, hitting, kicking, dodging, ducking. Barry glanced at the seesaw and caught Guy's eye. Seeing where he was looking, Guy nodded once. The two jumped onto the far ends of the pair of seesaws. The other ends flew up, striking Davis and his henchman.

Although he was far outclassed, Davis did not give up, and it took several minutes before he and his men were lying on the ground, groaning in pain, too weak and battered to rise.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Guy lay on the couch in Tina's condo. He looked like a man in his late thirties or early forties … an unhealthy man in early middle-age.

"Once the active node was activated, it sped up the aging process," Tina whispered. "I'm sorry, Barry, there's nothing I can do."

"There has to be," Barry protested. "He didn't complete his mission. He stopped, he changed."

Guy opened his eyes. He squinted against the morning sunlight coming in through the curtains. "Tired. Just let me sleep."

"No, you can't sleep. You have to stay awake," Barry urged. He was afraid what would happen if Guy fell asleep again.

"We have something for you. Can you sit up a bit?" Tina asked.

As Barry helped Guy to a semi-upright position, Tina went to the kitchen and fetched back a store bought cake, decorated with a single burning candle.

"I promised you your birthday. Make a wish," Barry told him.

"I wish – I wish I had more time."

"So do we, Guy." She wiped away a tear.

"Don't cry, Auntie Tina. I didn't have a long life, but I had the best friends – the best family – anyone could ever have," Guy told her.

She cut the cake, and handed him a slice. He dipped his fork into the cake and took a bite.

"It's good." He took another bite of cake, savoring the taste of the chocolate. He closed his eyes. As they watched, his body transformed again. He opened his eyes, and he looked like an octogenarian. "Aunt Tina, Uncle Barry, th-thank you for everything." He closed his eyes and breathed his last.

The rest of the cake sat untouched on the table. For once, Barry had no appetite.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Let me get this straight," Tamashiro said to the battered, bruised Davis. "The prototype is lost. The Flash stole my baby boy."

"They were fighting a coordinated attack, like a team," Davis replied.

"He was programmed to kill him. He was programmed to kill anything in his path." The contemptuous look she shot Davis clearly said 'including you.' She paced back and forth in her office. "How was the Flash doing it? Drugs? Some kind of counter-implant? Deprogramming? What could that speedster possibly use that would be more powerful than the neural mesh?"

"It looked to me like they were friends," Davis said quietly.

"Oh, that's it," she replied sarcastically. "He overrode millions of dollars of bioengineering and surgical procedures by becoming friends." She reached into her pocket. "Don't be insane. The boy wasn't programmed to have friends."

"With respect, ma'am –"

Tamashiro pulled the pistol out of her pocket and shot Davis before he could finish his sentence. She walked over to the window and peered out. "I know you're out there somewhere, Flash. And I will find you. You'll pay for stealing my baby from me."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Tina and Barry slept most of the day. When it was dark, they took care of one final necessary chore.

Barry found a quiet corner in Elmwood Cemetery. He took a shovel and dug the grave, far faster than a machine could have scooped it out. He lowered the coffin into the grave and refilled the dirt.

Tina took a bouquet of carnations and placed them atop the grave.

Barry picked up a chisel and rapidly carved the tombstone. He struggled to maneuver the heavy stone in place.

"Guy Rees. November 4, 1990 – November 6, 1990. We had too little time to know you," Tina read aloud. "It's very nice, Barry."

Barry swore quietly. "What kind of person – what sort of lunatic –would make a baby that's designed to kill and die?"

"The kind of person you fight," she reminded him.

"We fight. I couldn't do this without you." Barry exhaled heavily. "Let's go home." He tried to hide his sorrow, but his voice betrayed his grief and his exhaustion. He felt a hundred years old.


End file.
